POISION

meet the BRATZ dolls.

aren't the just cute???

what with their shorter than short mini-skirts, high-heels, tons of make-up and fashion accessories.

these dolls are what countless girls play with every day. and we wonder why there are so many body issues in the world today... more so than ever before! we wonder why a 5 year old, while playing with her friends, looks into the mirror and says "i'm so fat."

meet a disney icon

fashion queen, totally cute... don't forget really thin, make-up... the nines, right?

and why not... she's in middle school and that's normal. pre-teens are coming into their own and figuring out their own style.

but did you know that the target audience for this show is 9 years old?

9 people!!!

dude at the age of nine i was running around bare-footed and ratty-haired, with whatever k-mart clothes were clean that day and not a care in the whole world about what i looked like. and never once did i think i needed to care that much either.

i work with kids every day. i look around and see the images that they are faced with on a daily basis and i find myself talking like an old grandma

"back in my day it was the smurfs, care bears and strawberry shortcake... no emphasis on fashion, just fun and imagination... life was so much simpler."

yeah and one could find themselves saying all of those things throughout all of the generations past. the fact of the matter is, it HAS gotten worse. every generation seems to push the fence just a little bit more, allowing more sex to sell, allowing the focus to be so much more on fashion and THINGS (ipods and such) be more provocative, more sexy and it will sell better than the other guys schmoo. and get them at a young age... if you can get them as a customer at the age of 10... you've got em for life!

so how do we protect the next generation of girls from being bombarded with these images? sure you can limit the amount of television watched... it does help some.

and thankfully there are alternatives to those dolls.

but you are never going to get the media and the toy makers to stop pushing the envelope. they are never going to stop targeting young kids.

but the best source of how these girls see themselves and fashion and their bodies comes from the adults around them.

how you treat food, fashion and your own bodies will have the most profound affect on how they treat those things. if you yourself are constantly looking at fashion magazines and find yourself talking about how horrible your body is, they will too. if you watch a lot of television or movies whose focus is on sexy looking women... whether you think they are watching or not... they are.

anna and i came up with a rather enjoyable game to play the other day. we were at russell's tennis, waiting for him to finish and had nothing to do. there in front of me was a VOGUE magazine. so i picked it up and started thumbing through it. it wasn't long before i noticed anna over my shoulder. immediately my sensors blared an alarm.

"hey anna.. look at this poor model... she's so so skinny."

"yeah, she looks kind of sick."

"dude... it's just cause she needs a burger... will someone give that poor girl a burger? look, it's written all over her face. that pout she's making is saying 'please... i need french fries."

"look at that one... she's asking for pizza."

and on and on we went, coming up with the types of food that each girl should eat so she wouldn't look so sick.

more than anything, i pray i can keep my own self-image in line... so that when i do have my own girls, i can be a fantastic example of how to truly love who you are.

so instead of turning over every magazine i see in the grocery store, that has someone dressed inappropriately or threaten to burn all the bratz dolls on the planet... my plan of attack is in the positive reinforcement. in the positive ways i see myself. in the positive ways i treat food and fashion. and hopefully, the girls i have will do the same!